SAN ANGELO, Texas - The sheel pata is a kitchen tool that has endured for generations in the Bangladeshi kitchen.

One of my most vivid kitchen memories from my childhood involves the cook squatting behind the stone grinding tool and working over a mess of fresh turmeric roots. With the heavy gravelly sound of stone working on stone, she'd reduce the gnarly roots into a golden yellow paste ready to be stored in the freezer or added to curries.

I'd watch the back and forth movement of the stone roller while the turmeric released its pungent earthy aroma into the air at this onslaught. By the end, the cook's palms would be stained a bright yellow and the turmeric conquered.

The use of the stone grinding tool, also known as sil batta, is widespread throughout the Indian subcontinent. Cooks in rural villages and urban high-rises continue to work with the sheel pata almost daily even with electricity and electric appliances now reaching more people.

In my West Texas kitchen, I have four things — a coffee grinder reserved for grinding whole spices, two different food processors (one with an eight-cup capacity and a smaller one), and a mortar and pestle — to do the work of this one basic tool.

Similar to the Mexican "metate y mano," the pata is a large rectangular slab of stone with a pocked or rough surface (part natural and part dents chiseled into the surface) and the sheel (also called noura or puta in different regions) is a smaller, smooth, oblong-shaped stone roller designed to be grasped comfortably at both ends by hand.

The pata lies flat on the ground, and the food to be processed is placed at the center. Water is kept at hand to be added as needed to help the process along. Then the cook uses the roller in a horizontal grinding motion (back and forth instead of the more vertical working of the mortar and pestle) to process the items into paste.

Usually made out of granite, the weight of the slab keeps it steady during the grinding process.

This is generally a wet grinding operation used to make masala pastes for curries (from reconstituted dried red chilies to peeled garlic and ginger and more, since, traditionally, we use spice pastes rather than the ground form), bhortas (spiced up vegetable spreads) and chutneys, and to process proteins such as soaked lentils and cooked meats and fish for savory cakes, kebabs and fish or meatballs.

My mother, who cooked most of her life with ingredients processed manually on the sheel pata, grumbles that the modern food processors just don't get the same fine consistency or smoothness.

Yes, it's hard labor that requires the user to squat on the ground behind the sheel pata and use her own muscles to process the ingredients, but the sheel pata has many advantages as well. In a country where electricity has a tendency to come and go like a flighty sparrow, the sheel pata always works.

Not only that, the stone sheel pata tends to last a lifetime and is often passed down in the family. Unless you drop one of the components (from some height), there are no breakdowns or faulty parts to deal with. And it gives the arms a great workout!

I'm seriously considering lugging my mother's old sheel pata that I found tucked away at the family home back to West Texas. It would be nice to have a traditional tool and a family keepsake as part of my fusion kitchen. I plan to display it on my central kitchen island and use it standing up rather than the traditional squat.

It'll be another way to tie my Bengali heritage together with my West Texas life.

Here's a recipe for a cilantro chutney. Enjoy!

Cilantro Chutney

This beautiful green chutney with its heady aroma and refreshing zip goes well with grilled meats, fishcakes and tater tots.

Ingredients

1 bunch fresh coriander leaves, cleaned

2 green chilies (you can use serrano or jalapeño, deseed to reduce heat)

2 to 3 cloves of garlic (depends on your preference), peeled

1 tablespoon tamarind paste or lemon juice

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon ground cumin

— Water (as needed)

Directions

1 Trim the tougher stalks from the cilantro bunch.

2 Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor, and process until it reaches the consistency of thin ketchup. Add water a tablespoon at a time to help you process.

3 Adjust the salt, sugar and lemon juice according to taste.

4 Serve immediately. Leftover chutney can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for a few days.